The cheif purpose of this study is to examine whether there are any economic
advantages in allowing entry to markets at the manufacturer's risk and at prices
of their choosing. To examine the thesis that there are significant advantages,
six countries were chosen for study because they do allow a degree of free access
and degrees of pricing freedom, (the USA, the UK, Denmark, Holland, Germany,
and South Africa), at least to the extent that new product prices are not directly
controlled.

In just about every other European market there is direct price control on new
products used in the national health care system, which makes it impossible
to examine the effect of innovative competition. Yet it is this innovative competition
which Joseph Schumpeter claimed to be the 'competition which counts'. Schumpeterian
competition is seldom more evident than it is in the pharmeceutical industry.
Innovative rivalry is a characteristic feature of the sector.